Operations Management Analysis & Implementation Plan
Walmart is the leading retail company in the United States and one of the most successful retailers in the world. The fast changing environment of retail industry impacts the ability of many companies to stay successful in the long term. However, Walmart can be considered as an absolute success because it has maintained a relatively stable level of profit during the time of being in business. The purpose of this report is to analyze a global competitive landscape and supply chain of Walmart. The analysis will provide the required information for the development of an implementation plan for key objectives and change management issues. The method of this report includes collecting information by using archival research. The collected information was analyzed in order to develop operational and implementation plan.
Product And Service Standpoints
Supply chain management of Walmart can be defined as one of the main contributors to the long-term success of the products and services of the company. Walmart has more than 4,500 stores in the United States alone which makes it one of the biggest retailers in the country (Ketchen, 2007). Since the company was launched in 1962, its supply chain management has changed dramatically (Ketchen, 2007). The evolution of the supply chain management includes the implementation of new distribution practices and the development of their own delivery service.
The main goal of the company is to reduce costs in order to be able to provide their customers with reasonably priced products (Ketchen, 2007). That is why logistics plays a crucial role in the success of the supply chain of Walmart from both product and service standpoints. For example, Walmart transfers the products directly for the suppliers to the distribution centers of the company (Ketchen, 2007). This helps to reduce inventory and transportation costs as well as to reduce transportation time which increases the effectiveness of the supply chain management. The high level of effectiveness of supply chain management of Walmart impacts the customers of the company because they can purchase the products at an acceptable price. This has a positive impact on the level of customer loyalty that can be defined as the main factor that impacts the long-term success of the company.
Process, Products, And Services
The business processes of Walmart concentrate on four change management strategies such as dominating the retail industry in the United States, expanding to the new external markets, collaborate with the most popular brands in order to provide the customers with the best buying experience (Gibson, 2016). As the number of partnerships of Walmart increases, the company has to manage the change associated with the process of restocking shelves fast enough to support the decision of customers to buy the products. Moreover, the development of new technologies impacts the popularity of Walmart in a negative way because the company has not implemented digital services yet. However, the management of the company is considering the implementation of a new technology that will allow customers to order groceries online (Gibson, …
